As mobile electronic communications have proliferated, their importance has greatly increased. The need for inserting symbols and emoticons in electronic communications, such as emails, text messages and other mobile communications, has also greatly increased. However, the method of entering emoticons such as the “smiley face” or the “sad face” in such communications has not significantly changed. In particular, users often have to input emoticons by entering a series of textual symbols on an alphanumeric keypad or by sequentially accessing a series of menus associated with the type of symbols or emoticons. A user input method of this type may be adequate for users of desktop computers, but not for mobile users who desire to access emoticons and symbols with minimal input. Therefore, a need exists for more access solutions that are fast, intuitive, and easy to use.